The Other Side Of The Spectrum

[onidrase]

Sad truth is... customers are a/ NEVER right and b/ REALLY stupid.

I've had a customer actually point at a blatantly dark brown common pleco asking "This is an albino one right?"

REALLY stupid is right there

I've also learned that when I ask "How big is the tank?" "REALLY BIG!" is a relative term. When people said that at first, I always assumed "maybe it's a 55 or 75 gallon tank, it can't be less than 40, right?" Wrong. I've had people with "REALLY BIG" tanks who are rocking 5 gallon bowls, 10 gallon goldfish setups, usually nothing more than 20 gallons. The people who actually have big tanks tend to at least know their gallonage. without having to walk around the store trying to compare it to a tank in stock.

I do agree though, whenever a good customer comes in, we do talk for hours about things, getting along to the point where they'll stand by whenever I have to help a customer that actually wants to buy something. It makes the job worth while.

 

[MBOU]

Lol, its true, people cant judge sizes!!

People come in saying they have huge tanks and its about 60L...

Its generally the women who are really vague about size or just refuse to guess and the men all exagerate, every single time!

With half the blokes, when they say they have a 'huge tank' I say "what? about that size? and point at our sump tank" and they are always like yeah, thats about it! So I ask if its about 4ft, 240L and then i generally get yep! Roma 240!!

the sump tank is 5.5 x 2 x 2 LOL, 625L. 3 x the size! but its predictable that one one the common sized 4ft tanks are about 240-300L.

I love it when kids give the parents away I ask what size their tank is and the dad indicates its about 3ft long, the wife is more "no dear its not that big" and indicates 2ft long... and the kid chirps up with "no it isnt! its this big and has spongebob on it" and i know right off by that description that its a 21L pets at home creation. NOT a 2 or 3 ft tank.

 

[onidrase]

Yesterday afternoon some lady was talking with her husband about getting one of our baby oscar fish for a bowl. Self explanatory

not the first time either. I shall forever be haunted by the girl that wanted to buy an oscar for a 3 gallon marineland crescent toy.

On a not so fish related note, some lady wanted to buy a slider for a 32 gallon aquarium which had no basking lights, no UVB, and no landing pad. She threw a fit and called the manager on me when I wouldn't sell it. When I told her what she needed, she said she wanted to go pick up the supplies from home depot. Probably a cheap light fixture which will explode with a basking light or UVB in it. When she's complaining about a proper light fixture costing 20 dollars, you know she isn't gonna get a turtle. Properly, anyway.

I also realized shortly after the incident the UV and basking lights, exact models I was showing her, were missing from their boxes.

 

[MBOU]

Yeah... i cant believe the things people steal like... wool pads for PF2 filters that cost £3.49 for a box of 4... the interpet treatments out of the box... stupid little things...

I had a woman get proper stroppy with me because she wanted me to check her bulb was working and i said there was no point, both ends were black and it was cracked.... could see it wouldnt work and so she wanted a replacement, i checked the bulb and matched it for the 15W AquaGlo bulb.

Half hour later i get a phone call to say the new bulb doesnt work so she brings it back in, i set it up in a display tank and it works fine so i have to talk through the fact that its her light unit, she needs to check/change the fuses. It was at this point that my colleague rolls his eyes at the customers flapping and says to me its for a leopard gecko.

Im like...what? wait... why do you want a fish tank bulb for a gecko? Its going to do them no good at all! You need a 2%-5% UV bulb... and i explained the problem of Metabolic Bone Disorder (ricketts) where the gecko cant absorb enough calcium because of the lack of vitamin D3 because of no uv (and very cramped conditions).

She just looked at me and said "but you dont even deal with reptiles?!" no but i keep them and if you wanted reptile stuff, why didnt you go to the reptile shop? She had a right old moan and told me her gecko was abotu 20 years old (exagerated by about 18 years i think!) and that it had always had that sort of light and not died (though describing its 'cute little waddle' made is sound to me like it had bendy legs from having MBD)... I just gave up and sold her the replacement fuse and gave her phone number and address for nearest reptile shop and said she really ought to speak to them...

Yet again.. i get a phone call an hour or two later... asking if she could possibly return and get a refund for the new bulb and starter? I asked if she had found an alternative? And i got a long silence.... and a mumbled... "well... i went to the reptile shop and..well...uhh... i needed to buy a new light and unit... im really sorry..."

She got her refund and I got to be right... as usual

 

[creeker]

Having spent years working in fish stores and selling to fish stores, I totally agree with onidrase. There are some really smart fish nerds working in some of the stores. And the customers just don't listen.